


These Chaotic Gays

by Mischiefkingwinkyface



Series: Arcana Modern AU [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Asrian, Awkward Flirting, Cute, Embarrassment, Everyone Is Gay, Haphephobic! Asra, Modern AU, Modern Era, Multi, everyone is happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21633571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischiefkingwinkyface/pseuds/Mischiefkingwinkyface
Summary: Cute fanfic of Asra and Julian (who uses Ilyushka in this) being idiots. Everyone's happy and will stay that way.It's just all nice and feel-good because we deserve it.
Relationships: Asra/Julian Devorak, Ilya / Asra, Portia Devorak/Nadia
Series: Arcana Modern AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565794
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter I

Somehow it had taken ending up in an Emergency Room waiting area with his scarf wrapped about his bleeding arm for Asra to realise he hadn’t been having his best ideas that night. The fact that it was 2am and Nadia has not stopped reminding him how bad his idea was had helped with this realisation. By this point, they’d been there half an hour and he was starting to fall asleep on Nadia’s shoulder. He’d only just started to drift off when a voice with a thick Russian accent cut off his peace:  
“Asra Alnazar.”

His eyes fluttered open to see a tall man with red hair and an eyepatch waiting for him in the doorway. It’s not that he was against doctors, and he certainly wasn’t against this doctor, but he wasn’t exactly keen on being patient. Hence why he jumped out his seat and headed straight for the opposite door, “I’ve officially seen a doctor. Time to go- “ 

Unfortunately for him, Nadia already had hold of his arm. “Do not make me call your parents. It’s been a long enough night.” 

“Technically you didn’t say how long I needed to see a doctor for!” Asra was all too aware that the doctor was laughing at him behind his paperwork, but he really didn’t do being a patient. Really really didn’t do being a patient. 

It was a good job he had the sense not to fight with Nadia too much as she dragged him to follow the doctor into an exam room. She was glaring daggers at him as he stood awkwardly next to the door instead of sitting down while the doctor sat on the desk (the desk, not the chair) and checked his paperwork.  
“Not a fan of doctors, I see?” 

They’d all stared at Asra as though expecting some sort of answer he had no intention of giving. When he stood there and awkwardly stared at his feet, Nadia rolled her eyes so exaggeratively that he was almost worried she’d strain something and answered for him, “he just doesn’t like doing what he’s told.” 

“Well in that case”, the doctor laughed openly this time, “I’m Ilyushka, if you’d like to take a seat, I’ll look at your arm and get you out of here as soon as I can. How does that sound?”

“Like I didn’t agree to this…” Asra mumbled but sat down anyway when he spotted Nadia glaring at him again. 

It’s not that he wasn’t grateful for Nadia’s company, he was, it was just that he wasn’t exactly keen on his current position. At least she was letting him grip her hand while Ilyushka unstuck the scarf that the blood had cemented down. Upon seeing the neat wounds Ilyushka had paused and glanced between Asra and Nadia,  
“Mr Aln-“

“Mx” Nadia and Asra corrected him at the same time. Nadia’s objection came out rather more confident. 

“Sorry,” the doctor flushed red for a second before regaining his professionalism. “Mx Alnazar, how exactly did you get these wounds?” 

“At work, Ilyushka.” Asra turned his golden smile on the doctor in hopes of dropping the subject despite stumbling on the name; some things are just too hard to explain. It most likely would have worked better if it wasn’t for Nadia rolling her eyes almost to the back of her head and getting his phone out of her pocket. 

Ilyushka blushed bright red again and all but hid behind his paperwork, “what… Ahem… what exactly do you do for… er… work?”

“I’m an artist.” Asra’s smiled turned to sweetened bemusement, “I work in fashion.” 

“Fashion?” One grey eye peaked at him over the paperwork, “and that’s how you did that?” 

“Rotary cutter and wine.” He shrugged nonchalant, “it’s a deadly combination.” 

“Seems it.” Ilyushka chucked the paperwork to one side and hooked a chair with his foot to sit in front of Asra, “I’m going to get this cleaned up then we’ll see what we’re working with.”

Seemingly satisfied that Asra was going to behave, Nadia waved his own phone at him to show Muriel’s name at the top of the flurry of messages and headed for the door. He’d nodded in return and waited until she was all the way out the door before jumping out of his seat with such vigour, he almost knocked over the poor doctor,  
“I came, I saw, I’m leaving.” 

“You need stitches-“

“Tell Nadi my arm is fine for me. She worries sometimes.” Asra ignored his protests including the obvious mumbling that sounded distinctly like ‘oh I wonder why’ as he headed out of the door to sneak past Nadia. 

Unfortunately for him, Ilyushka followed him out there lamenting about his poor decisions with a flare that made Asra wonder if he partakes in community theatre. He certainly spoke as though he did,

“Do you not wish to have two arms to complete your craft? Or are you so skilled that the second arm has become meaningless? So, the words ‘infection’ and ‘sepsis’ speak another language to you? Do you need a translation? Perhaps I should be testing your hearing as well as stitching that arm!”

“Would you shhhh before you get me caught!”, Asra hissed upon noticing the amount of people turning to stare at him, “I have a plan.” 

“Oh, you have a PLAN. For some reason I don’t find that at all comforting .” 

The more Asra attempted to quiet the doctor the louder he seemed to become. Their bickering came to an abrupt halt upon Asra walking straight into Muriel who was stood in the entrance to the hospital with his arms crossed over his chest.

Asra had stepped back but already knew he wouldn’t get far. It hadn’t escaped his attention that Nadia was stood next to Muriel looking equally unimpressed by him. So much so that she actually tutted,  
“I cannot leave you alone for a second.”

Before he could protest Muriel was already carrying him back inside so all he could do was hold onto his friend’s hoodie and avoid looking at the doctor. It’s not that he was scared, nothing in there was threatening enough to actually cause him fear, but he hated the lack of control he had there. 

“You know,” Ilyushka attempted to break the silence in good nature, “if any more of your friends arrive we may have to find a bigger room.”

No part of Asra felt the need to reply, he just buried his face in the soft fabric of Muriel’s hoodie and mumbled for his friend to let him down. It wasn’t until they were back in the doctor’s room he’d escaped from once that his feet, his apparently bare feet, touched the ground which led him to wonder whether he’d put his boots on at all before leaving the studio with Nadia. Muriel has stayed close to him even after putting him down, just in case. 

“Is someone looking after Faust?” Asra tried to ignore Ilyushka’s faffing but it was hard when the doctor decided to chime in,

“Faust?”

“His snake,” Nadia explained from next to the door, “and she’s with your parents.” 

“She’s an albino lavender ball python,” Asra corrected her with a hint of indignation, “and she’s family.” 

“She could overthrow the government, stop worrying.” That comment from Nadia managed to break Ilyushka to the point he actually had to stop what he was doing to process the conversation happening around him. 

Having spent a whole night making bad decisions, Asra decided to make one more and looked at what Ilyushka was doing. He’d cringed so obviously that the back of the doctor’s gloved hand brushed against his cheek to push him to look away again,  
“We all know I’m pretty, but this wound is not.”

“… I’m cold”, Asra muttered in an attempt to cover up his embarrassment. He wasn’t but it was still nice when Muriel took off his hoodie and wrapped it around his shoulders. The smell of blood and antiseptic was starting to make him feel sick by that point, so he’d needed that small comfort. 

“All done!”

Muriel left as soon as humanly possible and Nadia had winked at Asra before following. It was Asra himself who had stayed behind the longest to speak with Ilyushka:

“So,” Asra held up one of his cards to the doctor with a wink and a golden smile, “may I schedule a follow-up personally?”

“Well you don’t really need to see me personal- oh…” - Ilyushka went a shade of red so bright Asra hadn’t even succeeded to find dye that shade of crimson – “Yeah- Yes! I’ll err… pen, pen, pen… Here!” 

He’d scribbled his number on a scrap of paper and held it out to Asra who plucked it from his hands with an inscrutable smiled before padding coolly out the door. The others were waiting outside with Nadia still texting on his phone. Asra took from her on his way past and waved it at her, “don’t you have your own?”

“It’s still at your studio,” she raised an eyebrow at him, “I was too busy trying to get you into a taxi to bother about whose phone I was picking up. Anyway, Nazali is coming to pick us up. Good job they were awake.” 

Nazali’s car had pulled up outside the hospital not much later and Asra jumped into the front seat to be greeted by Naz’s amused gaze,  
“What have you been doing now?”

“Getting a cute doctor’s number.” Asra held up the folded piece of paper between two fingers, “Nadi said I had to see doctor, she never mentioned the context.”

“He has seven stitches; we all just need to get home.” Nadia cut in from the back of the vehicle where she’d gotten in with Muriel.

Most of the trip was spent in the quiet, the only sound being Nazali humming along to the radio under their breath while Asra fidgeted with the folded paper resting in his hands. He’d all but fallen asleep by the time Nazali had pulled up outside his apartment and Muriel was helping him out of the car. 

The two of them headed inside since Muriel did not look like he wanted to leave Asra while the siblings drove away. Muriel muttered a goodnight before assigning himself to Asra’s sofa, not even bothering to ask for his hoodie back, while Asra wondered into the bedroom and crashed into the mound of pillows he called a bed. Asra didn’t bother to change out of his bloodied clothing or take off his makeup before falling asleep with his phone not on charge and the piece of paper still in his hand.


	2. Chapter II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few snapshots of the day after Asra first meeting Ilyushka.

Asra awoke the next morning to the smell of cooking and the sound of pans in the next room. Considering he had completely forgotten about the night before; he should have probably been a lot more concerned than he was in that moment. It was only when he’d gone to check his phone, and found it out of charge, that he’d remembered what exactly had landed him in that position. 

He plugged his phone in with the number sat on top before pulling the hood of Muriel’s hoodie over his face and heading into the kitchen where Muriel was making breakfast. The smell of sweetened porridge wafted around the room and a cup of coffee was immediately shoved in his hand. 

They’d sat in silence for a few minutes until a bowl of porridge appeared in front of him,  
“Are… are you okay?”

All Asra could offer his worried friend was a sleepy, and rather hungover smile, “I’m alright. Don’t worry, it’s all under control.” 

The whole thing probably would have been a lot more convincing if he’d at least changed out of yesterday’s clothes. The clock on the wall read almost noon but he didn’t need to be anywhere until after 7pm so it wasn’t like it mattered to him. Not to mention, he was counting yesterday’s disaster as an excuse to spend the afternoon perfecting his makeup for the evening before going to pick up Faust from his parent’s place.

“Are you going to call that doctor from yesterday?”, Muriel stared into his coffee as he spoke, “or at least change out of those clothes?”

That’s what was bothering him, the blood on Asra’s shirt just poking out from underneath the hoodie. Breakfast already forgotten, Asra went back to his room to strip off the layers he had been wearing for the best part of 24 hours by that point. Part of him legitimately considered just throwing the shirt straight in the bin when he saw the blood-soaked sleeve but figured he’d end up cutting the sleeve off sooner or later anyway. That’s what happens to most of his clothes no matter what. 

It’s not that he didn’t consider having a shower before covering himself with body spray and throwing on a new set of clothes: it was just that he really didn’t want to take the bandage off his arm and have to see all those stitches. He’s even wrapped the bandage with a new scarf to replace the one that he’d forgotten in the back of Nazali’s car the night before. 

Then he’d looked in the mirror and scene the true effects of the night before. Purple eyeliner and white mascara had run under his eyes, his hair flopped over his face in an awkward fringe and his eyes had gone bloodshot from stress and lack of sleep. It’s not like he’d never had a long night before with a deadline coming up, but it had never ended quite like that before; no wonder Muriel was still hovering so worried in his kitchen. 

He’d been taking off last night’s makeup, that had spread from his eyes to his entire face, when he realised the buzzing on the edge of his hearing was coming from his phone and not some random appliance. Without even checking the caller ID, he’d answered and started talking to who he presumed to be Nadia,  
“Please tell Muriel I’m fine and remind me next time I slash my arm open not to post it on Instagram. His cooking is wonderful, but I can’t appreciate it this hung over.”

“Is that so? I guess I’ll have to pass it on,” a deep chuckle cane from the other side of the phone. 

That voice made Asra freeze and flushed pink from embarrassment as the entire hospital visit from the night before flung itself foreword in his mind, “Ilyushka?” 

“The one and only. I’ve only just gotten home, figured you’d probably be up by now, Was I wrong?”  
The hint of concern in Ilyushka’s voice was touching to the point that Asra almost told him exactly how awful he’d been feeling since he woke up and how embarrassed he still was about the night before. The fact he’d been drinking before he went to hospital has helped significantly but that didn’t stop him worrying about how jittery he’d been around the doctor. He opened his mouth to answer but the doctor’s voice spoke once again through the phone before he could actually reply,

“I need to sleep before my next shift but I’m off Saturday if you want to get something to eat? I know the owner of the best little café if you’re into that kind of thing if not that’s okay we can go somewhere else as long as it’s at lunch because if not I have practice for community theatre in the evening so I can’t-“

“Lunch sounds fine!”, Asra blurted out, much too hungover to listen to anymore, “you go sleep, I need to get pick up Faust anyway. Saturday lunch, text me the details?” 

“Yes, of course. It’s a date!” 

The call was cut off before Asra could say anything, leaving him staring at his phone wondering what the hell had just happened. He’s grabbed Muriel’s hoodie to return to him and went back to wear the man was waiting. 

Muriel’s safeness and mutual trust between them was a large part of their friendship. That’s why it had only taken one look between them for Muriel to see the struggle behind Asra’s eyes and offer the hoodie back to him to hide in. Asra has just shaken his head quietly, too embarrassed to ask, and leaned in gratefully when the man had cautiously wrapped an arm around his shoulders and let him lean into his chest. Neither of them allowed that amount of touching many people so moments like those were very important. 

Asra had to down a coffee, two glasses of water, and actual food for breakfast before Muriel was satisfied that he was in one piece. By then he had about a thousand texts from Nadia asking when she was to pick him up to get Faust since she was getting ready at his before they met Nazali that evening. He’d sent a text back telling her to come over before grabbing what he needed to transport Faust home. 

The look Nadia got him when he got in the car was a mixture of fond exasperation and mild concern,  
“Did you get any sleep? This must be the first time I’ve seen you without makeup or hair products. Have you even showered?”

“At least I’m wearing shoes this time,” he flashed her a smile to distract from the fact that he hadn’t answered a single question, “can we go get my baby now?”

It wasn’t that Faust was the most important thing in Asra’s life except that she was. He hated going away from her but at least he knew his parents would take good care of her. She was his baby which is why he carried her pillowcase covered tub in the car close to him as they drove home to keep her steady; he was just happy to be reunited with his baby seeing as they’d just spent a whole two months apart. 

“How was it?”, Nadia spoke suddenly. 

“The trip?” ,Asra had spoken almost absentmindedly, never looking up from the bundle in his arms, “it was fine.”

“Two months trapped in hotels with Lucio sounds exhausting. I’m honestly surprised you both came back.”  
A smile crossed his lips at the reminder of the amount of times he’d almost thrown the sadistic socialite out of a hotel window, “me too. He seemed insistent on talking at me every moment of the trip. The only time I managed to get away from him was during shoots.”

He’d spent the past two months of his life travelling to various European cities with his lead investor, Lucio Morgasson, doing fashion shoots on his latest line on comfort-centric evening wear. Asra was known for his many-layered clothing, both literally and figuratively, and had become very popular very quickly despite his unusual (read: sweet) nature. 

They’d gotten Faust inside and settled with minimal fuss. Nadia has already been going through Asra’s wardrobe by the time he’d finished sitting cross-legged staring into Faust’s vivarium (not that he’d ever really be finished) and decided to join her. 

When he walked in, she’d been trying on one of his dresses and turned to him with an elegant flourish, “yes?”

“You look magnificent, Nadi.” He’d smiled before rummaging through his drawer to find his makeup bag, “no one pulls off red like an elegant countess, but only if she matches it with lipstick.” 

With that, he’d tossed a lipstick to her the exact shade of fire that matched her dress before attempting to get his hair to fluff, “tell me the truth, Nadi, was I a real mess in front of that doctor last night?”

“Only while he was trying to work,” she mused almost to herself, “you were perfectly charming during on the way out of the hospital.” 

She’d laughed upon seeing his disappointed pout, “you needn’t worry. He seemed to find it cute; you may wish to keep that pout for when you do get that date.”

“Bold you assume I haven’t already arranged.” `The smile on his lips made it to his voice before he could stop it, so he’d busied himself with putting his own makeup on to keep his cool before changing the subject to one where he was under less scrutiny, “do we have a designated driver tonight? I’m going to presume it isn’t me.”

“You don’t even have a license.” The look he’d gotten was a level of exasperation so great he could almost feel the judgement barely concealed behind her eyes, “no, Nazali has volunteered to drive since someone had to babysit you in A&E last night.”

“I’m still calling last night a success.” He’d shrugged and thrown a jacket over his shoulder on the way out the door. 

“You have a WHAT with WHO?” Nadia’s eyes had all but fallen out of her head upon hearing Asra’s plans for Saturday. Her arm was wrapped around the waste of a red-haired women Asra had yet to remember the name of. Apparently Nazali had introduced them a while ago and the two had hit it off straight away.

“I have a date with the doctor from yesterday,” Asra spoke into his cocktail, “Ilyushka Devorak, even his name is beauti- What?”

The heart eyes soon left Asra as Nazali choked on their drink and Nadia’s date dissolved into giggles. It had taken them a good thirty seconds before Naz to regain enough composure to actually speak, “you have a date with Ilya?”

Asra had stared blankly at them until Nazali took pity on him and explained, “I used to work with Ilya, he is by far the most dramatic dumbass I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.” 

“He seemed quite sensible when I met him.” Nadia had interjected mostly in Asra’s defence, “not to mention very patient with our resident disaster.” 

“Ilya is a lot of things but sensible is non of them!” The giggling women hanging off Nadia’s arm had decided to speak up, “my brother wouldn’t know common sense if it performed beside him in one of his beloved community plays.” 

“Your brother?” Asra had visibly perked up at the information being graciously handed to him.

“Portia here is Julian’s younger sister,” Naz explained patiently, “she is right about his flare dramatics though.”

“Perhaps he will be a perfect fit for our resident disaster here.” There had been a ripple of good natured laughter at Nadia’s last comment before Asra casually fell out of his chair and onto his feet.

“You wound me, countess.” He bowed as he backed away from the table, “I guess you don’t wish me to fetch you another drink?” 

“My dear magician,” Nadia rolled her eyes at the nickname before returning with a label of her own, “you owe me more than a drink for last night.” 

He’d left them at the table, receding into his own mind to think over his options with the doctor as he got another round. There had been whispering around him as he’d left and before he knew it his phone was buzzing away in his hand. 

[Ilyushka <3]  
[Bar. One hour. You in?]

In the corner of his eye, Asra spotted Portia waving her phone at him and smiled to himself before heading back to the table. For once he was happy the decision was out of his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’m happy to be giving you chapter 2 so soon! Feel free to comment and I’ll write more soon.


	3. Chapter III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilya and Asra have a first date which goes exactly how you'd expect it to go with two disasters controlling the night.

Asra had been sent back to the bar around the time Ilya was supposed to show up. For some reason, no one had been keen on the idea of him just joining the whole group. Actually, Portia had laughed so hard at the suggestion that Naz looked like they were considering if they’d have to start CPR. That’s why Asra was awkwardly stood as the bar pretending to be checking his horoscope on his phone and hoping he wouldn’t be stood there for another hour. 

“I hope I’m not too late,” the familiar deep accent rang in Asra’s ears, nearly halting his heart completely in the process. 

He’d taken a breath and spun to face Ilyushka with a genuine smile breaking out across his visage, “not at all. You’re right on time.”

There Ilya was, dressed head to toe in black and so much eyeliner it made Asra wonder if the man was part panda. They’d both flushed red upon seeing each other but Asra recovered first to allow his usual aura of charm to fall upon them like stardust sprinkling over their shoulders. 

If he hadn’t of been hyperaware of his friend’s eyes watching them, he may have stayed to have a drink but as it was, he wanted to go out into the world with the man stood in front of him. A sudden urge hit him to take Ilya’s hand and dragged him away, but he resisted, knowing this was not the time nor place to panic, instead settling for walking towards the door with one finger beckoning the doctor to follow. 

“You are of mystery, Asra Alnazar,” a grin split Ilya’s into a beacon of light, “I think I like it.” 

The air outside was cold, way past freezing compared to the raw heat of the bar they’d just left. Asra had pulled in a lungful of ice before stripping off his jacket and scarf to allow the frost to bite at his exposed skin. He’d only been vaguely aware of Ilya stood behind him, pulling his coat tight against the cold until his voice spoke rather unsure,  
“Is there a reason we’re out here getting cold?” 

“There is always a reason, Ilyushka. We may not know it yet but there is always a reason.” Asra’s grin turned wicked right before he took off running down the street followed by the sound of Ilya’s confused shouts sprinting after him. 

He’d jumped onto a lamppost just high enough to wrap his legs around it and dangle upside down to watch Ilyushka catch up to him. Asra couldn’t stop laughing at the shock on the doctor’s face,  
“Are we still cold?”

“… I think you’ve had enough to drink.” Ilya was bent forward to catch his breath but was grinning from ear to ear. There was a look of immeasurable awe written across his face as he took in everything about Asra; his cheeks had tinted pink from the run. 

The only response from Asra had been him pulling himself back upright and looking up at the night with the complete sense of wonder that had run through his veins since he was a child. The stars were shining down on them with such a perfect light that Asra felt as though it the world was made for the two of them to have that very second. As if the entire universe had formed so that those two people could stand in that exact spot as that exact second and feel the exactly sense of peace that was washing over him. It just felt so utterly perfect. 

“What’s it like up there?” Ilya wondered over to the post and looked up with Asra as though trying to figure what exactly he was looking at. 

“It’s like…” Asra threw himself back to sharply he barely caught himself with his good arm, “it’s like the world doesn’t need to turn anymore.”

Ilya just looked confused but nevertheless jumped onto the lamppost with Asra – except he didn’t exactly know how to land and ended up falling backwards back to the ground. It was only moments later that Asra’s feet deftly touched down on the ground next to him while he laughed,   
“Are you okay, Ilya?”

“… only my pride has been wounded.”

Still laughing, Asra deposited himself on the ground next to Ilya so they were both laid-out on the footpath. He’d pouted terribly when Ilya started to get up,  
“Can’t we just stay here a while?”

“I… I know a place. You’ll like it.” Ilya has stumbled when he’d climbed to his feet and muttered curses under his breath. 

Asra seemed to just levitate back to his feet and followed Ilyushka to this mysterious place with great interest. They’d reached a dingy pub hidden down a side path where the rickety sign read “The Rowdy Raven”. There was a light pouring out of the window that lead Asra to believe that it wasn’t as rough as it seemed upon first glance. 

“After you,” Ilya held the door open for him and ushered him inside to a table in the corner. 

Inside the pub was a lot more homely than the outside. Everything seemed aged but not not run down. Not to mention the fact that the place was filled with voices laughing and talking. It was Ilya who had seemed to want to get Asra to a seat before getting drinks for them. Asra, the kind-hearted soul he was, sat quietly and watched the doctor go the bar. Ilya seemed completely at least at the pub as though it was a second home to him, he’d relaxed as soon they’d walked through the door. 

“Your pride recovered from the fall yet?” Asra questioned as Ilya appeared with a tray. 

He’d been returned an embarrassed laugh before Ilya out the tray down in front of him. It had balanced in it a pint, a lemonade, and a plate of chips. 

“Chips?” Asra raised an eyebrow, “and lemonade. And Portia said you weren’t at all sensible, this feels awfully sensible to me.” 

“Wait util I’ve finished my liquid courage” Ilya had laughed and picked up a chip absentmindedly then dropped it cursing when he’d realised it was actually hot, “and you do need to eat. How many drinks have you had tonight?”

That made Asra pause to think then shake his head before swiftly changing the subject, “anyway I’ve never really had chips.” 

“Never?” Ilya’s eyes all but popped out of his head, “is that even possible?”

“My mum cooked a lot growing up, so we never had the need for anything like oven chips,” he shrugged, “the thought of them never appealed as an adult.” 

“Then allow me,” Ilya plucked on off the plate, more careful this time, and held it out to Asra, “to be the first to introduce you.” 

A wary expression crossed Asra’s face it he reached out with tentative fingers and took the chip off Ilya to take a bite out of it. His face immediately twisted in disgust “it doesn’t taste like anything! It’s just potato!”

“Correction,” another chip was used to tap the end of Asra’s nose, “it is cooked potato that you should be eating so we don’t end up back in A&E tonight. I’d rather be the only doctor at this party.” 

That drink had turned into a few more and by the time they left the bar, Ilya had just about caught up with Asra. This, along with the latent irresponsibility shared between them, leading to the idea that they would be fine walking over an hour to get back to Asra’s apartment despite the fact that it was about 4am. That was not the last unfortunate decision they made that night. 

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Ilya wondered aimlessly after Asra, who had been leading them around in circles for the past half hour. 

“I think I know the way back to my own home, Ilya.” Asra spun on his heel to face the doctor, “But if you have a better idea?”

“Nope, no better ideas only more fun ones.” A teasing smile spread on Ilya’s features, “unless you’re so desperate to go someone private?”

“Maybe I am,” Asra stalked over to Ilya, “you must have read my mind to realise exactly how-“ 

That had ended quickly to Asra dissolving into giggles upon seeing Ilyushka’s face flush crimson and the man had all but hid his face in his coat. For some reason, seeing Ilya hide in his coat had some made Asra realise he was still too warm despite the still dropping temperature of the night. He’d kicked off his boots and shoved them into his satchel, seemingly content to walk barefoot in the middle of the street. 

“You know,” Asra spoke in a tone that sounded almost thoughtful despite the fact that his brain had practically turned into a gaggle of squawking geese by that point “I bet you can’t do this-“

He’d deftly launched himself onto his hands and walked, feet dangling the air, down the quiet street with Ilya staring after him in complete disbelief. It was obvious that Ilya wouldn’t even attempt to argue with him, so he’d landed back on his feet, slipping in the process and hitting the floor with a loud crack. 

The next thing he knew Ilya was knelt next to him on the floor asking him questions and trying to look at the back of his head where he’d smacked it on the path. His ears were ringing too much to hear what Ilya was babbling at him. That’s how they ended up stood outside A&E waiting for Nadia to pick them up almost two hours later. Asra had been wrapped in Ilya’s coat that practically trailed on the floor since his own was suspected to be somewhere behind in the Rowdy Raven. 

“Do all your nights out end like this?” Ilya chuckled softly next to him. 

Asra was too busy watching headlights pass to bother answering. More specifically, he was watching Nadia’s headlights come closer to them. She had gotten out of the car to help them into the back seat and didn’t even bother to berate him,  
“I’ll take him home. Ilyushka, I’ll drop you off, where do you need to go?”

“I’m staying with him, no need to take me anywhere else.” Ilya had sobered considerably in the past couple of hours and seemed completely focused on making sure Asra was going to be okay.

There was no argument from Nadia, she’d just driven them over to Asra’s apartment and let them in. Ilya was sent to take Asra straight to his room and to get him into bed while she sorted everything else, he didn’t even bother looking at the rest of the apartment as he did what he was told. 

“Upsy daisy, down you go.” Ilya helped him sit down and grabbed the makeup remover off his desk and gently wiped the streaks of mascara from his cheeks, “it’s okay that you were scared earlier, it’s okay that you fell. This was still the best night of my life and I am staying with you tonight… If that’s still okay?”

Asra nodded and cupped his hand on Ilya’s cheek, “thank you…”   
Ilyushka smiled down at his hands as he unwrapped the scarf from the bandage on Asra’s arm, “you need to drink some water and get some rest.” 

“A very sensible suggestion, Ilyushka.” 

As if on cue, Nadia was stood in the doorway with a cup of water in her hand’s. She out the cup on the bedside table and stopped to watch them on her way out,   
“Will you two be okay here?”

“I think we’ll be just fine.” ,Ilya folded up Asra’s scarf and left it on the desk. 

For some reason Asra found himself enough at ease with Ilya that he’d fallen asleep against the man’s chest, listening to his heart beat a solid rhythm and hoping beyond hope that this was the first of many nights they would fall asleep together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More cuteness to come! feel free to comment. 
> 
> Chips = thick British oven chips, not crisps.


	4. Chapter IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a filler leading up to the actual plot! Some realizations between Asra and Ilya are waiting to happen.

It was around 2pm when Asra had woken up in Ilya’s arms. The sudden awareness of contact freaked him out so much he shot backwards with a cry and Ilya fell out of the bed with a loud crash. 

“Oh Gods… I’m so sorry! Ilya?!” Asra had scrabbled to the side of the bed to look down at Ilyushka who was staring at the ceiling with a look of complete and utter defeat. 

“I feel like I deserved that,” Ilya spoke in a resigned fashion as though this was not the first morning that had started with a bang, “I just don’t know what for.”

“Are you okay?” Asra climbed off the bed and sat on the floor with him, ignoring the sledgehammer steadily pounding in his skull, “are you hurt?” 

The situation just became more concerning when Ilya returned the worry tenfold, “did I set off your touching thing by staying in that bed?”

That was the point where Asra realised he didn’t remember an awful lot about the night before after eating chips in the Rowdy Raven. There were a few fuzzy images there but nothing he could tap into. Not to mention, thinking made his head pound harder. The lot of this put together just made it harder for Asra to figure out just when Ilya had found out he was haphephobic and understood it enough to be that concerned about it. 

“Since when did you know I have haphephobia?” Asra climbed back onto the bed and patted it for Ilya to join him in the mountain of pillows he called bedding. 

Ilya seemed to consider his answer very carefully before replying, “since the doctor tried to touch you yesterday and you got stressed so… I tried to hold you, ya know to make you feel better, and you kind of started crying. It took twenty minutes to talk you down, don’t you remember?” 

“I don’t remember anything after the Raven, Ilya. What happened?” 

“You concussed yourself on the floor,” Ilya laughed, “we didn’t get here until almost seven. You should have heard Nadia when I asked her to pick us up.”

So, there they were, sat together on Asra’s bed piecing together the night before. It was relaxed and Ilya seemed to understand more than anyone else what Asra was telling him. Never before had he been so listened to, most people never saw past the unusual (or worse, the ‘exotic’) artist persona he had seemed to have adopted his entire life. But Ilyushka, he saw there the wanderlust and hope lying underneath. He was Asra in his entirety and hadn’t run. 

“I should check on Faust.” Asra slid onto his feet and padded towards the door, “are you coming?”  
“Oh-uh yes. Yes of course.” Ilya followed him with a blank look in his eyes that made it all too clear he’d forgotten who Faust is. 

That clarification become altogether much clearer when Ilya had taken one look at the rather friendly snake, screamed, and shot back into Asra’s bedroom. It had taken Asra a few moments to process what had happened before he laughed to himself and went to knock on the door,  
“Not a snake person?” 

“… Not really, no.” 

“Are you going to open the door?”

“… no.” It could be heard through the door when Ilya sank to the floor, “I thought when you said snake it was a… small one.” 

Asra couldn’t help but laughed despite pang of guilt. It wasn’t that he found Ilya’s fear of Faust amusing, it was just so cute watching listening to his embarrassed squeaking through the door. He’d never seen someone have such an adorable reaction to meeting Faust; not even close. 

He’d waited until he felt it would no longer make the situation worse before creaking the door open and sat on the floor next to Ilya who was scrunched up in the corner with his head in his hands,   
“You know it’s okay?”

It was a question more than any question he’d ever asked. The gentleness in his voice seemed to lure Ilya from the bubble of self-pity he seemed to have entrapped himself him. Ilya’s eyes were brimmed the same red as the embarrassed blush on his cheeks. 

A silence settled between them for a short time. It was just long enough that Asra realised he wanted to hug Ilya even if he couldn’t. Enough to make him realise that, for a moment, he didn’t have that block in his mind holding him back. He has feared his phobia before but hating it? This was a first.

“It’s okay.” Asra whispered, “You don’t need to be scared of your fears, Ilya. You needn’t be embarrassed either. It is easy for me to keep Faust out of the way. Much easier, I suspect, than it is for you to not touch me. We don’t need to fight, Ilya, we need to learn. Together?”

“Together.” Ilya repeated back with a timidness in his voice. 

“I’m going to actually go shower. You staying here?” It’s not that Asra would ever claim to be the best at controlling his emotions but he did try to keep the tone light as he left Ilya alone once again. 

It was when he got back that he found his worries start to disperse. Ilya was staring into the mirror trying to get his t-shirt to look like anything but a crumpled piece of tissue paper when Asra walked up behind him with complete bemusement. 

“Please tell me you’re not going to wear that.” Asra spoke from next to his desk and burst out laughing when Ilya all but jumped out of his skin. 

“I… What’s wrong with it?” Ilya turned to face him, moving almost in slow motion, “it’s not that bad.” 

Asra was already going through a box he’d pulled out of his wardrobe and was chucking brightly colored shirts on the bed. The flurry of bright reds and purples hardly seemed to impress Ilya who looked rather mortified at the idea of wearing a bright colour. They didn’t seem to match the whole black-on-black style he had going on. 

That didn’t stop Ilya sitting on the edge of the bed when Asra pointed for him to. It definitely didn’t stop Ilya from stripping off his top when a burgundy one was thrust into his hands. The silky material had a pattern of gold feathers gliding through his fingers. It was the same material that had been Asra’s scarf when he’d came into A&E with it wrapped around his bleeding arm. 

“You can keep it, you know. It’s just a faulty one from when I was testing patterns.” Asra watched the changing emotions on Ilya’s face, “or do you not like it?” 

“I…” Ilya looked up at Asra suddenly as though he’d been pulled from a dream, “I love it.” 

Ilya had shrugged on the shirt just for Asra to absentmindedly adjust the collar and start buttoning it up for him causing Ilya to freeze and hold his breath. It seemed the most natural thing for Asra as he chatted absently the whole time about how he’d managed to perfect the pattern only two days after that shirt was made and how much he loved that shade of red. 

“How exactly are you going to get out of my apartment?” ,Asra couldn’t help chuckling as he watched realisation dawn on Ilya’s face as he remembered the snake currently residing in the other room. 

It wasn’t really amusing, watching all the emotions cross over Ilya’s in a matter of seconds, it was more that he was holding on to that feeling he had in the moment. The content puppy-love that was currently holding them captive was honest in its promise for the bubble to burst soon enough. Asra wanted nothing more than to reinforce that bubble just for them. 

“I guess,” Ilya smiled suddenly, “that I might have to climb out the window. Just like if we were kids, yes?”

“No one was ever climbing out of my window,” Asra laughed, “It was usually me doing to the climbing- you cannot be serious.”   
Ilya was already halfway out the window despite Asra living on the third floor and signaled with one finger for Asra to come closer. It was with delightful sordid intentions that Asra sauntered painstakingly slowly over to the window,  
“You wanted me?”

“Somehow I knew you were the type to leave me hanging.” Ilya had grinned before climbing down onto the fire escape and sneaking away into the almost blinding sunlight. 

There was a part of Asra that couldn’t believe this man he’d ended up knowing but all of him so glad to not feel alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave comments and such, I love seeing them! This will be the last update on here until the first holiday Chapter to be released for Saturnalia. 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy reading about these dorks.


	5. Chapter V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asra finally gets his stitches out and Lucio makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is horrifyingly late and I couldn’t do the holiday chapters so very sorry for that. We can all blame the fact I got concussion and whiplash on Winter Solstice. If there’s any Jewish or Pagan holidays you want to see chapters for throughout the year just let me know and I’ll get right on that. 
> 
> Little bit of a warning for this chapter: Lucio tries to insult Asra based on his religion and haphephobia pops up. 
> 
> Also (last thing I promise), I’m still learning so any issues with translations just tell me and I’ll get it fixed ASAP.

There are two things in the world Asra loves dearly; Faust and the look on Lucio’s face when he fails to wind him up. 

It was a few days after his date with Ilya and Asra had been sat sketching all morning as he attempted to ignore the buzzing his phone that was laid face-down on the desk. It has been buzzing with notifications all morning and he hadn’t cared to find out who or why he was getting messages as he knew if something had happened that really couldn’t be dealt with he would’ve had a phone call from Nadia or Nazali by now. Only when his resolve had about broken and he reached to check the messages did the cold weight of a prosthetic hand on his shoulder cause him to freeze,  
“And here I was thinking hiring witches was meant to make the work go faster?” 

“Do me a favour and hand me the glue so I can make the hideous sounds you’re making go away.” ,Asra shrugged off Lucio’s hand and spun his chair to face his employer. 

One thing that always made Asra laugh was the disgusted look on Lucio’s face right before the blonde made some half-arsed remark that was supposed to be either insulting or threatening and always managed to be neither. This time, he’d settled on spluttering out, “at least I managed to brush my hair this morning!”

“Only to cover up the grey. Do you mind if I get back to work now?”

With that, Asra rose to his feet and grabbed his phone off the desk before gliding past the fuming Lucio to look at fabrics. As he walked away, he glanced at the line of message notifications on his phone:

[Ilya <3]  
[You never made that appointment for your stitches]

[Ilya <3]   
[need me to sort it?]

[Ilya <3]  
[are you at work??]

[Ilya <3]   
[Asra??????]

[Ilya <3]  
[nvm Nazali filled me in xxxxxxxxx]

Asra stopped dead in his tracks while he tried to figure out what exactly Nazali had told him until he checked the rest of his texts:

[Naz]  
[Covered for you]

[Naz]  
[I’m picking you up from work. Okay?]

[Naz]   
[you owe me] 

Fabric surrounded him so Asra didn’t have to worry about anyone, like Lucio, seeing him stop to remind himself that Nazali would never do anything like collar him at work. Of course they wouldn’t, Naz was way more level-headed than to even attempt something like that. They were definitely going to wait until Asra had finished. Most definitely would not show- perfect. 

“If I say I need to collect my patient who has concussion and needs stitches removing then that’s what’s going to happen Mr… I’m sorry, what was you name again?” 

Naz’s voice rang clear in the quiet office, causing Asra to duck behind a stack of fabric and hold his breath in the hopes that he might disappear from will power alone. No matter how much he cared for Nazali, this was still his worst nightmare. It didn’t help at all that Lucio decided to shout everything he was saying despite the fact that Nazali never even hardened their tone, never mind even consider raising their voice towards him. 

Part of Asra hoped that they would somehow both forget about him until he heard a final “just tell me where Asra is” from Nazali and confident footsteps stride towards him. His gaze was greeted by an amused smile and Naz held out a hand to help him up,  
“What did we say about hiding from doctors?” 

“Maybe if that doctor didn’t collar me at work I wouldn’t hide from them.” ,Asra brushes off his clothes coolly as he stood, waving away the offer of the hand in hopes Nazali would get the hint he didn’t not want to be touched. 

If it wasn’t for the anxiety rattling his nerves, Asra would have found the tooth-grinding irritation on Lucio’s face hilarious. The fact that it was Nazali walking next to him helped as a small comfort considering how long they had known each other. Nazali was safe; Asra just hoped he’d remember that. 

The ride back to Asra’s apartment was quiet but it didn’t stay that way for long once they got there. Almost the instant they’d taken their coat off, Naz turned to Asra with fond exasperation,  
“Ilya was worrying about you all morning, you know.” 

“Ilya worrying about me seems to be the only constant in our relationship.” Asra threw himself onto the sofa and crossed his arm protectively over his chest, “my arm is fine. Now, I’m going to go back to-“

“What about a deal?” Naz flashed him a cheeky smile, “you let me take out those stitches and in return… I’ll tell you whatever you want about one Ilyushka Devorak.” 

There was a triumphant flash in Nazali’s eyes are Asra admitted defeat. The opportunity to learn anything he wished about Ilya was much too tempting to pass up. He sat with his legs pulled up to his chest on the sofa and didn’t even recoil when Naz sat next to him and held out their hand expectantly for Asra’s arm. Asra’s attention darted around the room before finally landing on his precious baby, Faust. 

“How do even know Ilya- oh gods.” Asra physically gagged at the smell of rubbing alcohol and all but hid in his scarf. 

A bottle of water was pressed into his hands and Naz’s tone stayed light despite the concerned undertones, “we met in university. That kid was just finding his feet and I learned how to improvise stitching on his head after one of his many bar fights. Ilya almost got kicked out more times than I could count, if I hadn’t’ve pulled him out of some of those fights… Goodness knows that the hell he would’ve done.” 

“Ilya… He got into fights? He seems so gentle to me.” ,Asra couldn’t even begin to picture Julian actually fighting someone. He was so sweet around Asra that the idea of him even getting into a full-blown argument was far-fetched never mind the concept of such a disagreement coming to blows. 

“In his defense,” Nazali sounded deep in thought as though something a something had just dawned on them, “those fights were generally not entirely his fault. He just had some bad luck spring up.” 

Asra squeezed his eyes shut and stamped his feet on the sofa when Nazali cut the top of one of the stitches, “oh gods! Oh gods! Oh gods! Naz!”

“I know what I’m doing, just breathe.” Naz reassured him, “did I ever tell that time I almost got arrested? It was completely Ilya’s fault.” 

There had been a tense pause before Asra shook his head and covered his eyes with his scarf. Naz let him take his time until he settled down before they started speaking again,  
“So, Ilya and I had just finished some of the most brutal exams I’ve ever had to do when we went out for some drinks. We went to this place called the Rowdy Raven… he may actually still frequent there… but anyway, that place is notorious for fighting so it was hardly surprising when Ilya got into an argument with a guy twice his size.”

“You’re joking…”, Asra was aware that his voice was barely audible but it’s not like he was exactly talking to be heard but Nazali seemed to know all the same. 

“I wish I was joking. You should have seen him back then, lanky beanpole of a kid.” Naz laughed quietly, “I had to drag him out of that fight myself and we had barely made it down the street when he announced he’d left that jacket of his behind. So, he legged it back in before I could stop him and got collared by the guy who I’d just dragged him away from. Of course, he lost and limped all the way back home…”

Naz had gone quiet then, just out of the blue, as though struck down by some stray thought. The silence was enough to force Asra’s eyes open. He’d immediately regretted it but held on to his courage to watch the small frown pass over Naz’s face. By this point, Naz had stilled and was staring on as though their own mind had pushed them free from the current moment to some distant place. 

“Naz?”, Asra pulled his arm free and pulled his legs closer to his chest, “what is it?”

There was a pause before Naz glanced up to Asra’s face and seemed to rejoin the world. A soft smile passed over their features as they playfully waved a pair of tweezers in Asra’s face, “eyes closed again. I’m not having you start screaming or something when I pull these out.” 

“I can handle it.” Asra reluctantly closed his eyes again and took a deep breath-

Then someone banged on the door and he jumped out so far he fell off the sofa. 

He was vaguely aware of Nazali laughing and calling for whoever it was to enter. Clumsy footsteps were heard stumbling into the room along with a familiar accent mumbling curses followed by the exclamation, “I forgot about the snake…!”

There was no audible reply from Nazali but they must have done something as Ilya was knelt on the floor beside him in an instant. The man’s voice was soft in his ear, “I see my very presence has floored you completely, любимый (beloved)” 

“The floor just happens to be more comfortable.” Asra’s eyes landed on Ilya’s teasing grin and he couldn’t help smiling himself. A silent offering of help was there in the form of Ilya’s hands hovering by his shoulders to lift him; a careful note of tenderness had nested within his eyes as a promise he would always be safe. 

Even Asra could barely believe his actions as he inclined his head in permission and allowed Ilya’s long fingers to be wrapped around his arms. It took all his strength to ignore the flutter of his heart and remind himself of the gentleness of the touch. It still had the capacity to hurt but for once it didn’t. 

Ilya had stayed by his side. His breath tickled Asra’s skin as his lips brushed cheeks held hostage by the threat of tears attempting to spill. It was only when Nazali had left to make tea that Asra had dared look at the fresh bandage over his arm before fully acknowledging Ilya’s presence,   
“أنت حبيبي (you are my love)” 

“And you are mine.” Ilya had answered without a beat before bursting out laughing at Asra’s jaw dropping open, “you didn’t know I speak Arabic?” 

“Was I suppose to?” Asra questioned, hardly containing his own giggles.

The tension in the room had broken completely with both of them falling over themselves laughing from the sudden ease. Ilya had volunteered to stay back when Nazali finally left, their concern about Asra had been obvious but Ilya assure them that he was in good hands. Only then did quiet thoughts get spoken between them. 

Asra’s lipped brushed past Julian as he whispered almost too quiet to hear,  
“هل تو حبوني؟ (do you love me?)”

“يا حبيبي بحبك (my love, I love you)”


End file.
